INSTITUTION OF THE HUMAN RIGHTS OMBUDSMAN OF BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA
made a decision to limit the use of the telephone booth to her father and other patients and reduce
it to twice a week (Monday and Friday in two periods of time: from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. and from
3 p.m. to 5 p.m.), while earlier they had the possibility to use of the telephone booth at the
aforementioned time intervals every day and that medical information on the patient's health are
available only on Wednesdays (from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.), which, according to the complainant, is a
minimal time period, all under the pretext that they do not have time to give information about all
patients. During the investigation, the representatives of the Institution requested a statement from
the Hospital and visited the Psychiatric Hospital Sokolac, and held a meeting with the management
of the institution. 328. Psychiatric Hospital Sokolac in their letter to the Ombudsman, 329 claim the
following: „...Article 6 of the House Rules of our Institution, which is binding for both our patients
and our staff, governs the use of telephone booth and mobile phones. So the patients can use the
mobile phones without any supervision unless a doctor in charge decides otherwise in accordance
with the patient's health. There is no any other decision in this regard. Also, it is not true that
doctor's information on the patient's health is available only on Wednesdays (from 11 a.m. to 1
p.m). Article 5 paragraph 4 of the House Rules provides that information on the patients' health
is to be given by a doctor in charge durign the working hours, which means every day from 07a.m.
to 1 p.m...“ During the meeting, Director pointed out that "at the time of the visit to the Psychiatric
Hospital Sokolac has 115 patients, while the capacity of the hospital is 200 patients. The Health
Insurance Fund of Republika Srpska is financing the stay for 100 patients." She stressed that the
financing of acute psychiatry in accordance with Model 1 is not acceptable for this type of patients,
since it involves funding of hospital stay for patients for 3 - 10 days after surgery, while for
patients staying in Psychiatric Hospital it cannot be determined how long they will stay there,
whether 15 days, six months or more, which certainly requires very large financial expenses.
Unfortunately, a large number of patients return to the hospital because they do not take
medication, are often left to fend for themselves, and there are patients who are destined to spend
their entire lives in the hospital. In the next period, the plan is to open a psycho-geriatric ward and
a ward for addiction. The Department of Forensics was transferred to the Public Health Institution
Institute for Forensic Psychiatry Sokolac, and thus the men's Department of Acute and
Rehabilitation Psychiatry was moved to that part of hospital. Patients have occupational therapy,
go on excursions, and can leave the hospital only under the supervision of a doctor. During the
visit, the representatives of the Institution talked to a certain number of patients, who pointed out
that they have regular telephone contacts with their families, that no one denies them the right to
do so, and that everyone has mobile phones. They are satisfied with the food, the staff, health care
and occupational therapy.
328
On 01 April 2019 head of the Department for Exercise of the Rights of Persons Deprived of Liberty Vedrana
Pavlović and Expert Advisor Selma Jahić had a meeting with Director of Psychiatric Clinic Sokolac Biljana Renovica
- Cvijetić and Head Technician Vladan Grubačić
329
No.: 01-1052-1/19 dated 01 April 2019
80
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